1/3 Kees Lankhaar, manager of restaurant Tante Pietje (photo: Bart Meesters/SQ Vision, Omroep Brabant).
Restaurant Tante Pietje in the Korte Putstraat in Den Bosch was severely damaged on Wednesday night by a fire on the floors above. The restaurant mainly has water damage, the ceilings are hanging down. It will take months for the damage to be repaired. Carnival is over for us.
The fire broke out around two o’clock in the morning in a storage room above the restaurant, which is located in one of the most famous and busiest catering streets in the center of Den Bosch. A lot of smoke came out. Firefighters had to smash windows to get the smoke out of the building.
“If they had been five minutes later, we wouldn’t be here anymore.”
Owner Kees Lankhaar received an app from someone about the fire. “Then I drove here like crazy,” he says in the damaged restaurant on Thursday morning. At first glance, the damage seems not too bad, but the fire has wreaked havoc. “There is nothing in the meter cupboard, the upper floors are completely destroyed. If they had been five minutes later, we would not have been here anymore.”
Firefighters spent about an hour and a half extinguishing the fire. “Then smoke came out again. Those old ceilings with reeds in between, they want to burn,” says the catering entrepreneur.
Employees of Allerlei & Visserij, a restaurant opposite Tante Pietje, discovered that there was a fire. They were still having a drink after work. The employees alerted the fire brigade. From a business point of view, after the lean corona years, the restaurant was just doing well again, says Lankhaar.
“Carnival is financially important, but it’s also just fun.”
The fact that it’s carnival in a few weeks makes it extra sour. “There will be no carnival for us. That period is financially important, but it is also just fun. You look forward to it all year round. Especially here in Den Bosch, one of the largest carnival cities. You just want to participate in that, but That’s not going to happen here this year.”
Lankhaar does not want to get ahead of things too much, but fears that it will be a long time before Aunt Pietje can receive guests again. “I think we can be happy if we can open again in July or August.”
“I get support from all over the Netherlands.”
The fire not only made a big impression on Lankhaar. “I receive support from all over the Netherlands, from regular customers and other catering entrepreneurs,” he says.
Residents in adjacent apartments on Korte Putstraat had to leave their homes temporarily on Wednesday night. The fire attracted a lot of attention. Local residents heard explosions caused by exploding carbon dioxide bottles.
Images of the fire show that a lot of smoke is released.
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